The FASTY project - faster typing for disabled persons
As the campaign for the European year of people with disabilities gets under way, CORDIS News takes a closer look at the European funded project, FASTY (Faster typing for disabled persons); a project which is bringing better quality of life to disabled people. Communication and information exchange is a vital factor in human society. Communication disorders can severely influence the quality of persons' lives. FASTY, an IST (Information Society Technologies) project funded under the Fifth Framework Programme (FP5) was started in January 2001 with one main objective: to increase the typing speed of non-English disabled persons using predictive typing systems and input devices. The project involves partners from four Member States and has a total budget of 2.46 million euro. CORDIS News spoke to Wolfgang Zagler at FORTEC/Research Group for Rehabilitation Technology in Vienna who identified the three main target groups for this project: Motor impaired persons with severely limited use of their upper extremities, speech disabled persons and persons with language disorders. He explained that each group has specific difficulties with communication, which necessitates, in return, a specific solution. For instance, while experienced typists can type up to three hundred words per minute, persons with motor impairs can only attain much lower rates using alternative typing devices like the single switch. The FASTY project entails creating a typing system for increasing the text generation rate of disabled persons using predictive typing. With only a few keystrokes whole words or sentences will appear. Not only will persons with disabilities be able to produce text faster and have better spelling and grammar, but the physical and cognitive load will be lightened. Users will have standard keyboards and a full range of special input-devices including a speech synthesiser. It will also be possible to adjust the FASTY system to meet the lingual and communication needs of the person using it. While there are already predictive typing systems for English-speakers, Mr Zagler told CORDIS News that no predictive typing programmes powerful enough to improve the communication rate and the access to information technology for disabled persons substantially exist for other European languages. In answer to this, FASTY is working on a multilingual system in German, French, Dutch and Swedish. Additionally, a language-independent prediction software that clearly separates the predictor, the dictionary, the grammar description and the user interface will be specified and implemented. This ensures that the system can be carried into most European languages without sacrificing performance. Within the first year of the project, FASTY concentrated on assessing users' needs in order to ensure user involvement from the beginning. An extensive user questionnaire was developed with regards to the preferences and user needs in view of word prediction but also sections about the handicap, used software and hardware, PC usage and typing, and the readiness to be involved and to support FASTY. Between 70 and 80 per cent of users said they were willing to participate in or to support FASTY. According to Mr Zagler, a system prototype is expected to be ready in mid 2003.